Concealed sock



April 25, 1967 T. DAXE 3,315,276

CONCEALED SOCK Filed March 30, 1966 INVENTOR 72 52/1417 .DAXE

ATTORNEY United States Patent O 3,315,276 CONCEALED SOCK Thelma Daxe, 54 Nassau Drive, Great Neck, NY. 11021 Filed Mar. 30, 1966, Ser. No. 538,643

6 Claims. (Cl. 2239) This invention relates to a knitted article of footwear adapted to be WOIn inside a shoe and more particularly to a sock of such a configuration that it is substantially concealed by a low-quarter shoe i.e., a sock which extends to a point below the ankle of the wearer.

Many persons, particularly women, find it desirable to wear socks that do not protrude above the shoe so that there will be no areas of the legs which are normally visible with dress wear that will have contrasting tanned and untanned portions, which would otherwise result with the wearing of conventional socks that protrude above the shoe. The main problem encountered in the wearing of conventional socks that are concealed within the shoe, is that in active walking or sports activities, the heel portions of the sock tend to slide downwardly within the shoe, resulting in the bunching of the sock between the wearers heel and the heel portion of the shoe, and causing discomfort and often blisters on the wearers feet.

Various solutions have been proposed to overcome the above problem, including the provision of an elastic strip extending around the sock opening to provide a closer fit of the foot to the sock opening. The elastic strip provided in such cases, however, often was not tight enough to-prevent the sock from sliding downward at the heel portion and when an elastic was provided which was sufliciently tight to prevent slippage, deleterious effects ensued such as extreme discomfort and intereference with the normal blood circulation in the foot of the wearer. Another proposed construction was a sock having an elastic strip around the sock opening with a pompon which extended over the heel portion of the shoe when worn. The low-quarter sock with pompon construction has been objected to because of the unaesthetic apperance of the clumsy inordinate projections of the pompon at the heel and also because the pompon often became dislodged from the sock. Still another presently used construction entirely eliminated the elastic from the low-quarter sock and provided a support tab which is integrally knit with the heel embracing portion of the sock, with the support ta=be being folded down over the heel portion of the shoe. It was found, however, that such socks having an extended integrally knit heel portion, after a period of wear, also tended to slip downwardly into the shoe.

The present invention is directed to the provisions of a low-quarter sock which overcomes the disadvantages in wearing comfort and functionality of the prior art low quarter socks.

It is therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a sock which, when worn, covers only those portions of the foot that are within the shoe and which is prevented from sliding downwardly into the shoe.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a sock which, when worn, covers only those portions of the foot that are within the shoe, in which the rim of the shoe opening provides vertical support to the heel embracing portion of the sock.

In accordance with the principles of the present invention there is provided a sock adapted to be worn on the foot inside a shoe and to be substantially coextensive with the height thereof. The sock comprises a tubular body having an upper edge defining an opening therein adapted to receive the foot of the wearer therethrough, with the tubular body comprising a toe portion at the front end of the sock, a heel embracing ortion at the rear of the 3,315,276 Patented Apr. 25, 1967 sock, and a body portion which connects the toe portion and the heel embracing portion. A tab strip of substantially non-elastic material is stifily secured to the top of the heel embracing portion and to the upper edge of the opening adjacent thereto thereby rendering the portion of the sock opening which is co-extensive with the tab strip, substantially non-elastic.

The non-elastic tab strip has a stiff upper bead portion and a flexible flap portion extending downwardly therefrom, such that the bead portion is disposed above and in seating engagement with the upper edge of the shoe opening, and the flap portion is disposed outside the shoe, thus stabilizing the sock heel embracing portion and preventing the sock from sliding downwardly into the shoe.

The features of the invention which are believed to be novel are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as -to its organization and method of operation, together with further objects and features thereof may best be understood with reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 shows a sock constructed in accordance with the present invention as typically worn on the foot.

FIG. 2 shows the sock of FIG. 1 as typically worn Within a shoe.

FIG. 3 shows a sock, constructed in accordance with the present invention, in its unextended condition and in its extended condition as when worn on the foot.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a sock, constructed in accordance with the present invention, taken along the lines 44 as shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a sock, constructed in ac cordance with the present invention taken along the lines 44 as shown in FIG. 2, in which the flap portion of the tab is of a solid non-fringe-like construction.

In FIG. 1 there is shown a sock generally designated 10 as being of the kind that extends to a point below the ankle of the wearers foot 12. Sock 10 may typically be made of a stretchable yarn such as stretchable nylon or cotton to provide a snug fit over a range of foot sizes. Sock 10 has a peripherally extending edge 14, extending from the sock heel portion 16 along the sides of the sock and to the area of the foot instep, to the toe portion 17, thus defining the opening that receives the foot of the wearer. A narrow elastic strip 13 is suitably secured to the sock edge 14 to provide a snug engagement of the sock edge 14 to the wearers foot 12. The sock 10 may typically have cushion sole, heel and toe portions and a relatively thin instep portion extending from the toe portion 17 rearwardly to heel embracing portion 16, such as is well known in the art.

There is secured to the upper rear portion of sock 10 at edge 14, and to the top of the heel embracing portion 16 adjacent thereto, a tab 20 made of substantially nonstretchable material, having an upper bead portion 34 and a lower flap portion 22 extending therefrom. The bottom of bead portion 34 seats with the opening edge 24 of shoe 25 with the flap portion 22 overhanging the heel embracing portion 27 of shoe 25 as shown in FIG. 2. Flap portion 22 may be of a fringe-like construction of the same material as head portion 34 as shown in FIG. 4 or may be of a material different from head portion 34 and may be of any suitable design such as that shown in FIG. 5.

Since bead portion 34 is substantially non-elastic and is secured stiffly and substantially continuously to elastic strip 13 at its heel portion, the heel portion of edge 14 and that portion of heel embracing portion 16 which is coextensive with bead portion 34, will be substantially non-elastic in the direction of edge 14. This feature is illustrated by FIG. 3 which shows sock 10 in its unextended condition, i.e. when it is not being worn, as indicated in dashed outline 26, and in its stretched condition indicated by solid outline 28, i.e. when worn as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. Referring to FIG. 3 it is seen that the rear portion of edge 14 which is secured to strip 20 maintains substantially the same dimension in the worn condition as when the sock is in unextended condition i.e. when not being worn.

Referring to FIG. 4, the construction of the heel portion 16 of sock 10 and the seating of bead portion 34 of tab 20 on rim 24 of the shoe opening is shown in greater detail. Piping stitching 36 encloses elastic strip 13 and secures strip 13 to the inside of sock 10 at its upper edge 14 so as to be coextensive therewith. It is seen that stitching 32 secures bead portion 34 stifily to sock material 38 thus maintaining those portions of sock material 38, elastic strip 13 and piping stitching 36 enclosing strip 13, which are coextensive with bead portion 34, in a substantially non-elastic condition. Bead portion 34 extends downwardly to flap portion 22 which partially seats with the heel rim portion 23 of shoe 25 and overhangs the heel embracing portion 27 of shoe 25 at its lower flaredout fringe portion 44. It is thus seen that shoe heel rim portion 35 seats with the lower end of head portion 34, thereby providing a vertical support for the heel embracing portion 16 of sock 10. It will be noted that the abovementioned vertical support is achieved by virtue of the combination of two important features of the present invention, as follows. The making of the heel portion of otherwise elastic edge 14, and the top of heel embracing sock portion 16 substantially non-elastic by substantially rigidly securing together bead portion 34-, sock material 10 and elastic strip 13, in combination with the feature of providing a seating engagement of heel rim portion 23 with the base of bead portion 34 and the overhang of flap portion 22 over shoe heel embracing portion 27 to prevent disengagement of bead portion 34 from shoe rim 24.

Thus in accordance with the principles of the present invention there is provided a low quarter sock which is substantially coextensive with the height thereof, which while comfortably and securely worn, is prevented from sliding downwardly into the shoe. It might be noted that the structure of the bead and flap portions of the sock, which represent an important feature of the present invention, also enhance the aesthetic appearance of the shoe while providing for non-slip wear as described above.

The sock construction shown in FIG. is similar in all respects to that shown in FIGS. 1-4 with the exception that the fiap portion 35 of the tab 20 is of a solid rather than fringe-like construction as shown in FIGS. 1-4.

While there has been shown a particular embodiment of the present invention it will be understood that it is not wished to be limited thereto, since modifications can be made in the sock and tab constructions and it is contemplated in the appended claims to cover any such modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of this invention.

What is claimed and desired to 'be secured by U.S. Letters Patent is:

1 An article of hosiery adapted to be worn on the foot inside a shoe having a rim defining the shoe opening, and to be substantially coextensive with the height thereof, said hosiery article comprising, a knit tubular body having an upper edge defining an opening therein adapted to receive the foot of the wearer therethrough; said tubular body comprising a toe portion, a heel-embracing portion, and a body portion connecting said toe and heel-embracing portions; a tab having an upper substantially nonextensible strip portion and a flap portion extending downwardly therefrom, and non-extensible means securing said non'extensible strip portion to a part of said tubular body upper edge adjacent to said tubular body heel-embracing portion and to a part of said tubular body heel-embracing portion immediately adjacent to said tubular body upper edge thereby rendering non-extensible the part of said tubular body upper edge which is coextensive with said strip portion, a strip of elastic material, means securing said strip of elastic material to said tubular body along said tubular body upper edge whereby the edge of the opening in the sock is extensible along that portion of the opening which does not have the non-extensible strip portion secured thereto, the remainder of said upper edge being non-extensible, said non-extensible securing means forming a substantially non-extensible shoulder along the bottom edge of said non-extensible strip portion extending from said heel-embracing portion, said substantially non-extensible strip portion having a thickness sufficient such that upon insertion of said hosiery article into a shoe, said strip portion is disposed above a shoe rim, with said non-extensible shoulder seating on a shoe rim, said flap portion being disposed outside of a shoe thereby stabilizing said tubular body heel-embracing portion and preventing said hosiery article from sliding downwardly into a shoe.

2. A hosiery article as defined in claim 1 wherein said substantially non-extensible strip portion has a length sufficient to embrace the heel of the wearers foot.

3. A hosiery article as defined in claim 2 wherein said fiap portion is substantially flexible.

4. A hosiery article as defined in claim 1 wherein said flap portion comprises a fringelike material.

5. A hosiery article as defined in claim 2 wherein said substantially non-extensible strip portion is disposed on the exterior of said tubular body heel embracing portion.

6. A hosiery article as defined in claim 1 wherein said substantially non-extensible strip portion has a thickness of at least that of a shoe rim at the heel portion thereof.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,238,804 4/1941 Brown 36-10 2,691,779 10/1954 Bell 2-239 2,904,980 9/1959 Stinson -1 66171 3,000,013 9/1961 Traenkle 2240 3,130,566 4/1964 Chesebro 66-171 3,146,468 9/1964 McDonald 2-239 JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner. J. R. BOLER, Assistant Examiner. 

1. AN ARTICLE OF HOSIERY ADAPTED TO BE WORN ON THE FOOT INSIDE A SHOE HAVING A RIM DEFINING THE SHOE OPENING, AND TO BE SUBSTANTIALLY COEXTENSIVE WITH THE HEIGHT THEREOF, SAID HOSIERY ARTICLE COMPRISING, A KNIT TUBULAR BODY HAVING AN UPPER EDGE DEFINING AN OPENING THEREIN ADAPTED TO RECEIVE THE FOOT OF THE WEARER THERETHROUGH; SAID TUBULAR BODY COMPRISING A TOE PORTION, A HEEL-EMBRACING PORTION, AND A BODY PORTION CONNECTING SAID TOE AND HEEL-EMBRACING PORTIONS; A TAB HAVING AN UPPER SUBSTANTIALLY NONEXTENSIBLE STRIP PORTION AND A FLAP PORTION EXTENDING DOWNWARDLY THEREFROM, AND NON-EXTENSIBLE MEANS SECURING SAID NON-EXTENSIBLE STRIP PORTION TO A PART OF SAID TUBULAR BODY UPPER EDGE ADJACENT TO SAID TUBULAR BODY HEEL-EMBRACING PORTION AND TO A PART OF SAID TUBULAR BODY HEEL-EMBRACING PORTION IMMEDIATELY ADJACENT TO SAID TUBULAR BODY UPPER EDGE THEREBY RENDERING NON-EXTENSIBLE THE PART OF SAID TUBULAR BODY UPPER EDGE WHICH IS COEXTENSIVE WITH SAID STRIP PORTION, A STRIP OF ELASTIC MATERIAL, MEANS SECURING SAID STRIP OF ELASTIC MATERIAL TO SAID TUBULAR BODY ALONG 